POSITIVES FOR PALESTINIANS BEFORE PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED

The sincere hope of every Palestinian is to receive justice regarding their land, their right of return and to live as free people in their own sovereign nation. Of course, at a personal level, every Palestinian mother and father wants their children to have adequate food and a secure home that will not be destroyed by the Israelis.

They also want their children’s eyes to be filled with love instead of hate. They want them to know that if they work hard that their will be jobs for them that will enable them to have happy families of their own. They yearn for their children to have realistic ambitions which are beyond the hope of dying while taking Israeli lives. Sadly, even those who would not consider carrying a suicide bomb themselves still receive satisfaction from the deaths of innocent Israelis. They resent so deeply the humiliation heaped upon Palestinians for so many long years, that they feel there is more balance when innocent Israelis die horrible deaths from suicide bombs.

For many varied reasons the Israeli economy is much stronger than the Palestinian economy. Consequently, the average Palestinian child is much more likely to go hungry than the average Israeli child. However, the degree of hate and resentment of the Israeli child toward the Palestinian child is usually just as great as the Palestinian child toward the Israeli child. The mutual cycle of hate is debilitating for both groups. The hate appears to be as emotionally damaging to both sides as the violence is physically damaging.

Both the hate and the violence must stop if either the Palestinians or the Israelis are to experience anything close to normal lives. But most objective observes acknowledge that the Palestinian victims are experiencing deeper physical and psychological wounds than are the Israeli oppressors. Also, the level of hope for a reasonable future is much greater for the Israeli child than for the Palestinian child.

Yet, for both sides the cycle of hate which feeds and drives the cycle of violence must stop. Bold, perceptive persons will acknowledge that to wait for a political solution to stop the violence appears to be both unrealistic and naive. To draw on French literature, to wait for a solution is even less realistic than waiting for “Gadot.”

There must visit this horrible deadlock some creative, resourceful leadership that at present does not appear to exist. My own hunch is that vitally needed, resourceful thinking is more likely to come from innovative Palestinian women than it is from Palestinian Rambo want-to-be men. That is, the macho, eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth mentally that sees weapons as the answer has so brainwashed both Israeli and Palestinian men that it will probably take courageous, resourceful women to cause intelligent choices to replace the vengeance mentality which presently prevails and is one hundred percent counter-productive.

For both sides, the cycle of hate which breeds the cycle of violence must stop. For this to occur, one side must take the first step to climb to a higher and more intelligent moral ground. This first step by one side quite probably lead to the other side eventually taking a higher moral path. But it may take several steps by the wiser and more ethical side before the more ruthless, opportunistic and immoral side will follow. But both sides must not keep waiting for the other to be the first to demonstrate this type of practical wisdom.

With the possibility of being labeled as a stereotypical anti-Semite, I will offer an observation based on my experiences on the West Bank and in Jerusalem. At this particular time in history, when Palestinians are not being seriously abused, they are usually much more generous in spirit and more willing not to be arrogant, than are the Israelis. Therefore, in my mind, I am convinced that it is more reasonable that ALLAH will be able to convince the Palestinians to take the leadership role in elevating the morality level of the present stand off.

Consequently, it makes sense that it must be the Palestinians who will take the courageous and intelligent step of totally de-escalating the present violent struggle. Consequently, the circumstances dictate that it is practical wisdom which ALLAH (probably not the U.S. and Israel) will honor if Palestinians agree among themselves to lay down their stones, the weapons that they possess, and dispose of all potential bombs making material. But it is quite necessary that while they are taking these crucial steps, they are simultaneously costing themselves upon the Mercy of ALLAH and asking Him to provide leadership and intervention through His Risen Messiah.

Imagining the possibility of a worse case scenario, let us say that ALLAH and our Messiah do not appear to intervene as quickly as Palestinians might expect or hope for. Nevertheless, when a peaceful atmosphere begins to reign with fervent prayer occurring not only in the mosques and churches but also in the streets, in the kitchens, and in the markets, wonderful progress will begin to occur.

1. When peace and prayer begin to reign, world opinion will begin to change and will no longer favor the Israelis.

2. When peace and public private prayer begin to permeate the environment, tourists will again visit this land which has such a rich spiritual heritage.

3. When tourists again begin to visit, unemployment will begin to decrease and hope will replace despair.

4. When hope begins to replace despair, desperate mothers and fathers will worry less about their sons and daughters yielding to the psychological pressure to become suicide bombers.

5. When suicide bombers disappear, manipulative Israeli leaders will lose part of their leverage they use to manipulate world opinion against the Palestinians and in favor of the Israelis.

6. When world opinion becomes more informed, less brainwashed and less propagandized, there will begin to be a world-wide outcry for justice for the oppressed and exploited Palestinians.

7. When the atmosphere of hate is at least partially replaced by an atmosphere of hope, the U.S. policy of being vigorously pro Israeli and callously anti Palestinian will be exposed as hypocritical and corrupt.

8. When certain U.S. pro Israeli and anti Palestinian leaders lose their evil power to control and exploit, the chances for a more just Palestinian state will increase dramatically.

So, each of these positives can be accomplished while still anticipating more intervention from the compassionate Risen Messiah.